Techorse Short Stories

by Spirals95

#47 - The Search for Spanners: Part I

Author's Note:

In this story:

It's been several weeks since Spanners Buildsbetter came to Ponyville and attempted to put down Techorse in order to build himself up. In his haste, he left behind his prized possession, a monogrammed hammer, which Techorse wants to return to his rival in hopes of burying the hatchet. But to locate Spanners, he'll need the help of a certain unicorn with his own magic shop...

This story introduces Midnight Blaze, Wolven5's main character to the Techorse AU.

The Search for Spanners: Part I

Techorse Series: #47

By Spirals95

Into the Mystic was a peculiar shop located just a little ways away from Fillydelphia, as if the wares inside were something less than desirable to the residents of the larger city. In truth, it was the size and items sold at the store that made it necessary for it to be located out of town. Magical tools, potions, toys, and even the occasional stray artifact were all sold at the location, various arcane oddities. The owner of the shop was Midnight Blaze, a hard-working unicorn with a dark blue coat, black hair with blue stripes, and a tail he strangely kept cut to resemble a wolf's. He was huddled over his workbench at the back of the shop, a large wooden table scattered with metal tools, and a handful of candle lamps hanging above to provide light. With him was Captain Arbiter, watching as the pony was working on his sword Wraithbane. Four slender and long amethyst crystals were being attached to the hilt of the sword by Midnight, who flipped on his welder's mask and started to burn them into place with his magic, light blue sparks flying from the sword. When he was finished, he flipped the mask back up, and turned to the captain.

“Here you go uncle, the mindstones are in place! You can control your sword using just your thought power now.”

Arbiter smiled and stepped forward, concentrating on the stones on his sword's hilt. They glowed as the captain focused on picking up the weapon, and he swung the blade around a few times before sheathing it back at his side. Mindstones were Midnight's greatest invention, magical crystals carved from pure Crystal Empire lattice gemstone precisely cut under intense magical pressure. They reacted to the brainwaves of their master, and had to be custom tailored to a particular pony's mind, making them hard to make in mass. But the result was a gemstone that could be moved by its owner simply imagining moving it, valuable for non-unicorn ponies.

“Good, I was getting tired of those metal gauntlets and how often they'd get destroyed,” Arbiter said as he walked up to the bench, “not that those were bad. I appreciated your work with them for how long they lasted.”

“Eh, it was time to retire that idea anyways,” agreed Midnight, smirking, “it was a good test run for the mindstones, but I'm moving on to bigger and better things! Maybe one day any pony will be able to pick up tools just like a unicorn can!”

“If you can somehow cut down the cost of production,” reminded Arbiter, his one good eye looking at the table, “I paid you quite the price to get this job done.”

“And I'm thankful for that,” he sighed, his mind wandering off on the state of his shop.

“Now, before I go, there's somepony else with me,” announced Arbiter, “his name's Techorse.”

Midnight snapped to attention, “Oh, Techorse? We've met before!”

“Have you?”

The unicorn removed the mask magically and tossed it onto the table before admitting awkwardly, “Well, according to him we have anyways. One day he just showed up to the shop and said we'd met before, talked a bit with me about how cool the place looked, and left. I mean, I heard about his work with the Element holders during the invasion, but I never saw him before in my life!”

“He's not exactly the most social pony,” chuckled Arbiter, “and a goody-goody four shoes at that. He fails to understand his status as an Equestrian hero and is shocked every time somepony knows his name outside of that castle of his in Ponyville.”

Midnight realized what he was talking about and his ears fell back, “So wait, is Techorse that pony you tried to...?”

Captain Arbiter rolled his eye, “Yes, we all know I tried to remove Techorse's head several times. Will I ever live it down, nephew?”

“Then why would you bring him here?” gasped Midnight, “He's got to be a little upset over that, don't you think?”

“Techorse and I aren't enemies anymore. It's more of a friendly rivalry,” explained Arbiter, trying not to admit he was friends with Techorse now.

“Oh, I see,” answered Midnight with a snort, not buying it for a moment, “so why is your 'rival' here?”

“He needs your help with some magical tool or something he's found,” explained Arbiter, “he didn't say much, but I agreed to let him come along and talk with you. Shall I send him in?”

“Sure!” he answered, “I'd love to take a look.”

Arbiter and Midnight left the back room, and Midnight returned to his post at the counter at the back of the shop. The shop was a large, rustic looking store with rows upon rows of wooden shelves containing all sorts of magical tools, potions, and a couple of prank devices as well. Brass chandeliers hung from the ceiling, with electrical plastic candles giving the shop an eerie look that was definitely intentional. Captain Arbiter exited the store into the daylight, and found Techorse standing right next to the entrance, waiting his turn.

“All right Techorse, Midnight is waiting for you at the counter,” he said.

“Thanks Arbiter!” answered the green stallion with a smile as he tried to enter the shop, “Midnight's just the pony I need to help me out here.”

“I'm curious as to what you're trying to do here, Techorse,” said the Captain, blocking Techorse's path into the shop.

Techorse explained, “There was this stallion who seemed to really hate me that I had a bit of an argument with earlier, and he accidentally dropped some kind of a tool when he left Ponyville. I just want to return it to him and try to find out why he doesn't like me so much.”

“Very well, I wish you luck,” answered the Captain, “now if you'll excuse me, I must be going. I think I'll stop in Ponyville on the way back for a couple of sweets from Pinkie's workplace.”

“All right, have a nice trip back!” said Techorse as the Captain spread his wings underneath his black cape and flew away.

Techorse opened the wooden doors to the shop and entered, clearly something heavy weighing on his mind.

Once Arbiter was by himself in the sky, he thought aloud, “Techorse gives everypony a solid chance and prefers to bury the hatchet so I bet that argument they had was a little bit more than that. I'd better investigate once I get to Ponyville, looks like my pastry will have to wait for a while!”

---

Midnight brought Techorse to the back room again, this time taking him to his appraisal table on the opposite side of his arcane laboratory. Techorse hadn't stayed in the shop long enough to ask questions about the lab in the back, and it was littered with potion filtering equipment nearly identical to traditional chemistry tubes and boilers. Chunks of crystal were scattered on the various tables in a mess, along with several magical conduit tubes and runes, a few of which were the shield runes installed at Canterlot Castle.

“It's good to see you again Techorse,” said Midnight, pointing to his examination table, “although I still don't understand how you know me.”

“Well, I sort of met you earlier,” admitted Techorse, “but you'd never believe me if I told you. I'm sorry I didn't really take the time to get to know you earlier.”

“Nevermind, let's just start over then!” laughed the unicorn, “I live out here with my little brother Twinken, we work together to keep this magic shop open. He usually takes care of the customers while I invent magical tools back here in my lab.”

Techorse was rather impressed with the magical laboratory, “So what kind of tools?”

“I like making things that help the other types of ponies work with their more passive magics better,” he explained, “like runestones that activate by touch, or mindstones! Uncle Arbiter really likes using those on his weapons.”

“So wait, you're Arbiter's nephew? I thought he only had his little brother Claymore,” said Techorse, a bit confused as to how they could be relatives.

The unicorn put a hoof behind his neck, and laughed, “Oh well, my father is his cousin, so our relation is kind of fuzzy, but we're like uncle and nephew, always have been!”

He relaxed a bit, returning his hoof to the stone floor of the lab and continued, “Anyways, what was this magical tool you wanted me to see?”

Techorse stepped up to the table, and the metal saddle on his back opened up, a pair of thin robotic arms tipped with small metal hands emerging, one holding a carpentry hammer. They set the tool on the examination table, while Midnight watched on with a sparkle in his eye and a beaming expression on his face.

“What are those?” he gasped, excited to see such devices.

Techorse turned his head to look at him, and said, “This is my battle saddle. It's a robotic backpack that's tuned to my brainwaves and follows my commands. These are my robot arms I use to grab stuff, never got used to using my teeth...”

“Oh my gosh, you're an inventor too!” squealed Midnight, nearly jumping up and down, “I can't believe it! What other sorts of stuff do you make?”

Techorse fully turned around, the arms retracting into the saddle with a mechanical click as the bay doors on it shut behind them, “I like to make kitchen appliances, mostly as a career. But I also build some more advanced stuff like this freeze ray I built recently you can use to snap-freeze popsicles.”

“That's amazing!” marveled Midnight Blaze, “I'd heard about your beam-firing saddle before from the stories about the invasion, but I didn't realize you built it yourself! I bet all your inventions are just as great.”

Techorse admitted sheepishly, “Well, not all of them. I tend to blow myself up a lot trying to make new ones.”

His acquaintance pointed at him, and then back to himself as he said cheerfully,

“You blow yourself up all the time? I blow myself up all the time!”

They spent the next half and hour discussing their various successes and failures as inventors and pioneers in technology, from Techorse's shrink ray incident to the time Midnight Blaze accidentally turned himself into a pinwheel for 48 hours thanks to a bad potions disaster.

“So then when I went to turn on the popcorn maker, Pinkie Pie shrieked when she realized I had made the mistake of thinking the recipe called for a cup of unpopped kernels instead of popped ones. The lab was filled with popcorn in seconds!”

“Woah, what'd you guys do about that?” asked Midnight.

“She ate most of it, but I still find kernels sometimes in the lab,” answered Techorse, snickering.

After a moment of silence between the two, Midnight looked at the ground before looking back to Techorse and said, “Hey, it's really cool knowing there's another pony out there like me who likes to make things. Do you think maybe...”

“We could be friends?” smiled Techorse, his blue eyes bright as ever, “I'd love that Midnight.”

Midnight raised a hoof, as did Techorse, and they smacked the fronts of their hooves together, sealing their status as new-found friends.

The unicorn then remembered why they were there, “Thanks! But what about that hammer you brought in, want to check that out?”

Techorse answered, “Right. Let me show you.”

He walked up to the table, and Midnight's horn glowed light blue as he brought over a pair of goggles with magnifying lenses. The curio store owner looked over the hammer, with a gold S carved into the side.

“Where did you get this fancy hammer?” inquired the shopkeeper, turning it over with a hoof, “this S is made out of actual gold!”

“That hammer belongs to Spanners Buildsbetter,” explained Techorse, “I didn't want to tell your uncle that because if I did, he'd try to arrest him for trying to defraud Ponyville.”

“What, uncle Arbiter wanting to make an arrest? Is it Thursday already?” joked Midnight, getting a laugh out of his new buddy for that.

Techorse shook his head, “Anyways, Spanners came to Ponyville and said I wasn't a real Earth Pony because I had no connection with the ground.”

“Wait, this belongs to Spanners Buildsbetter you said?” asked Midnight, raising an eyebrow, “As in, the son of Hammers the Architect?”

“That's him,” confirmed Techorse, pointing at the hammer with a hoof.

Midnight snorted, “Wow, what a jerk! You are too a real Earth Pony, you have to dig up all the materials you need for your work.”

Techorse said, “That's exactly what we found out. Spanners was trying to displace me as Ponyville's best builder, and knew he'd have to challenge my machines as being real Earth Pony work to do it. He even promised to upgrade all of Ponyville's buildings, but it turned out he couldn't even build a simple house like his father, so he ran away and left this hammer behind.”

“So why'd you come to me about this?” asked a confused Midnight Blaze.

The green stallion answered, “You're the only pony I could think of that could track down a unique tool and its owner. I want to find Spanners and...”

“Give him what he deserves for humiliating you in front of Ponyville!” finished Midnight, smirking.

“That's just it,” admitted Techorse with peace in his voice, “Spanners ran away because he thought I was going to beat him up or laser him in front of Ponyville. All I wanted to do was talk to him and find out why he was so mean to me. I think there's another reason besides wanting to establish a reputation in Ponyville and get me out of the way.”

“So you're not out for revenge? Wow, uncle was right, you really are too good,” chuckled Midnight.

“Arby likes me and he knows it,” answered the other stallion, rolling his eyes.

“Anyways,” continued the unicorn, “this hammer seems to be magically inscribed! The gold letter is made with authentic gold, and has been pressed in using a carving spell. It's really well done in fact, Rulers did a really good job!”

“Rulers? Who's that?” asked Techorse curiously.

“Rulers is Spanner's mom, Techorse,” explained Midnight, removing the headgear and placing it on the bench, “his mother is a unicorn pony, and she does engravings like this with precious metals.”

“So I ought to go to the Buildsbetter residence in Canterlot and see if they know where their son is,” confirmed Techorse.

He walked up to the bench, and retrieved the hammer with his robotic arms. A cargo flap opened on the top of the device, and Techorse dropped in the tool, which vanished into the storage of the machine. The flap closed, and its owner started to walk for the door.

“Thank you so much, Midnight,” he said.

“Wait, do you mind if I come along?” asked the unicorn hopefully, “It'd be nice to get out for a while, and I might be able to help you track down Spanners.”

Techorse smiled and answered, “Of course! Will your shop be ok without you?”

“Will we be gone for too long? I could get my mother to watch Twinken if we're out for more than a day,” he said.

Techorse shook his head, “Hopefully this'll be over fast and we'll be back before dark.”

“Ok then, just let me pack a few things, let my brother know where we're going, and I'll meet you outside!” answered Midnight, smiling back.

---

“I wasn't expecting the Captain of the Guard to show up this afternoon!” hummed the mayor of Ponyville as she poured him a cup of tea from a brass teakettle.

The two ponies were sitting in her office, a cross look on Arbiter's face as he thought about what to ask first. He wanted to figure out just what had happened in Ponyville with Techorse having thought so negatively of this “rival” he had mentioned.

“I'm seeking information about somepony,” said the pegasus, pulling the teacup closer with a wing, “was there some kind of attempt on Techorse recently? A robbery or battery?”

“Battery? In Ponyville? Why no Mr. Arbiter, there hasn't been crime like that,” she said, a concerned look on her face, “what's wrong with Techorse?”

“Techorse told me he got into an argument with another stallion, and they parted and very unfriendly terms, that's very unlike my sappy little friend to do.”

The mayor's face went pale as she figured out what Arbiter was referring to, and she said slowly, “Ah heh, well now that you mention it... there was something that happened here.“

“And what would that be?” queried Arbiter as he sipped from the cup, the hot tea running down his throat.

“Well,” continued the mayor after and audible swallow, “Techorse challenged that stallion you're talking about to a building competition after he said he wasn't a real Earth Pony. And um, things got out of hand because Discord tried to cheat to help Techorse win, completely without Techorse knowing of course.”

“Hmm, I'd buy that. It'd be like Discord to think he's helping by cheating,” continued Arbiter, still giving an angry look to the mayor, “but I'd love to know as to why Ponyville didn't rally around Techorse to drive this stallion away.”

He drained the remainder of the tea in the cup, and set it down with his hoof.

“So, who is this foolish guy who decided picking on Tech was a good plan? And why didn't you support one of your local heroes?” he asked softly.

The mayor looked like she was about to faint out of fear of Arbiter, but meekly told him, “It was Spanners Buildsbetter. He promised to improve all of Ponyville's homes and buildings, so we sort of wanted him to stay.”

“So you sold out Techorse for some real estate value?!” shouted Arbiter, slamming his hooves on the table, “And to of all ponies, a spoiled rotten brat like the Buildsbetter colt?”

“Please, you have to understand! We were just hoping to get attention from a celebrity, we didn't mean to hurt poor Techorse!” pleaded the mare, her glasses nearly falling off her face from the sweat, “Ponyville was had by Buildsbetter, we didn't get anything.”

Arbiter let his rage simmer down, and returned to his seat, “Now that's more like it. It sounds like our little problem stallion is guilty of false advertising and defamation of an Equestrian hero! I'll need to bring him in for a little questioning.”

“I don't know if it needs to go that far,” suggested the mayor, regaining her confidence, “but if you made him publicly apologize, I'd think Techorse would really like that!”

The stallion nearly cringed at the thought of not carrying things out like he normally did, but he remembered he was mostly doing this as a favor for Techorse anyways, and said,

“I'll consider that an option.”

Standing up, he headed for the door of the cramped room, and only turned his head back to say, “Thank you for the information, mayor, as well as the tea.”

Arbiter exited the room, leaving the mayor to take a deep sigh of relief and pour herself her own cup to try and relax after the Captain's shouting.

The pegasus slammed open the door of the town hall, anger on his face as he exited into the streets of Ponyville. Every pony for several hundred feet around watched him stomp angrily out of the building, including Twilight, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, who watched in curiosity. They had gone to get a scoop of ice cream from Sugarcube Corner, but were now interested in why Arbiter was stomping around.

“Uh oh, Captain Arbiter's here, and he's mad about something!” groaned Twilight.

“Arby's always mad about something,” snickered Rainbow Dash, “it's probably nothing.”

“Well, I think we ought to ask him, it's not good leaving him angry,” said Fluttershy softly.

“Go ahead!” said Rainbow Dash, “He'll get over it even if you don't.”

Fluttershy slowly and carefully approached Arbiter, who was still fuming, and gently tugged on his black cape with her front hoof.

Immediately he spun around and shouted, “WHAT DO YOU WANT?!”

The timid mare recoiled and whimpered, shutting her eyes, “Eep!”

Arbiter's anger vanished from his face, “Oh, Miss Fluttershy. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you.”

Still shaking like a leaf from being yelled at, Fluttershy stood back up straight on her legs and opened her eyes.

She managed to squeak out, still terrified, “T...that's ok Arbiter, I... I snuck up on you.”

“No, no it's not ok,” admitted Arbiter, grunting, “I shouldn't have been so cross, but I can't help it. Your incompetent mayor let Ponyville get scammed by that miscreant Spanners Buildsbetter.”

Fluttershy knew the name and said, “Oh my, I can see why you're so angry now! Spanners did come here and trick Ponyville. But worst of all, he was really unkind to Tech.”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash caught up, having overheard that the Captain was talking about Spanners.

“Arbiter, are you trying to get back at Spanners for Techorse?” asked Rainbow Dash, “Because if you did, that'd actually be pretty cool of you. He was a total jerk!”

“I agree, but I hope this isn't another one of your schemes to make an arrest, Arbiter,” sighed Twilight Sparkle, knowing what lengths the Captain liked to go to in order to avoid that pesky 'due process' thing he hated so much.

Arbiter tried to defend himself, “It's true he broke the law... but, well... I...”

He saw the three mares giving each other looks of disbelief, and the stallion knew he was going to be found out trying to ruin Spanner's life and toss him in prison for what he had done. Had he really gotten that predictable? But then he remembered what the mayor had suggested, and decided to go with it for the moment until he could get at Spanners.

Arbiter lied slowly, “I.. I think given his crime, I want him to publicly apologize to Ponyville.”

“And Techorse...” reminded Fluttershy softly.

“Yes, and Techorse,” agreed Arbiter, which made Fluttershy smile and nod in approval.

Rainbow Dash was impressed, “I gotta say, Arbiter, dragging Spanner's sorry butt back here to apologize to everypony is an awesome idea! Maybe we could have Pinkie Pie hit him in the face with a pie too!”

“Rainbow Dash, I don't think humiliating Spanners more is going to help,” said Fluttershy.

“Fluttershy's right, Rainbow,” agreed Twilight, “we should only ask him to make up for his mistakes, since there's probably some reason he did those mean things. That way, there's a chance that Techorse and Spanners could...”

“I don't want to hear it!” groaned Rainbow Dash.

“Nor myself,” agreed Arbiter, “we have enough problems with that buffoon in Canterlot. Last thing I want is for him and Techorse to get along.”

Twilight felt like this was a good opportunity to learn something new about friendship, but understood why her friends didn't want that to be the case. Her ears sank back a bit in annoyance, but she perked back up to not tip off her friends to what she was feeling. She came up with a plan however, to bring everypony together to get Spanners in custody.

“Arbiter, do you mind if we come with you and help you find Spanners? I've got this new slowing spell I want to try that might help,” offered Twilight.

“Yeah, let's go get that guy!” cheered Rainbow Dash, floating into the air with her wings and throwing punches with her hooves, “We're gonna make Spanners pay!”

“Ah, for once, you want to help me capture a criminal?” laughed Arbiter, “Pinch me, I must be dreaming!”

“He's not a criminal Arbiter,” scolded Fluttershy gently, “he's just a bit mean.”

“Whatever,” scoffed Rainbow Dash, “let's go!”

“Very well,” said Arbiter, “Miss Sparkle, please teleport us back to Canterlot. We'll get started there!”

“Sounds good, hold on everypony!” ordered Twilight, her horn glowing light purple as energy accumulated for the jump.

“There's something more to Spanners that made him so mean,” she thought as she cast the spell, “but what?”

---

The Spanners residence was a huge mansion located just outside of Canterlot, a large, gated home that just could not decide what it wanted to be. It seemed that Hammers had designed his own celebrity home, and there were design styles of his in every last inch of the structure. Tall white walls dominated the structure, all uneven in height, making several rooms that all connected into one large living area in the center. The roof was made from what appeared to be terra cotta Spanish tile, and balconies overhung almost every part of the huge residence. A vast stretch of cobblestone of various colors led up to the massive front door made from molded brass, and a huge fountain carved in the shape of a pair of large stone mallets spewed water into the marble dish below in front of the mansion itself. The tall, iron gates were locked shut, and Techorse and Midnight stood out front seeking a way in.

“Do you see any guards?” asked Midnight, “Because I don't think we're going to get in otherwise unless...”

“We're not going to break in, Midnight,” sighed Techorse, “there's got to be some kind of an intercom here somewhere, or something.”

The two stallions searched around the gate area for a button or speaker system, but nothing seemed to be around. While they were looking, a brass pipe slowly emerged from behind Techorse, a shower head styled apparatus attached to the end of it.

Once it had fully extended to its maximum size, the brass pipe immediately bellowed, “Hello!”

Techorse nearly jumped ten feet in the air from the surprise, and turned around quickly. Midnight looked back as well, and tilted his head curiously at the bizarre choice of intercom for the mansion.

“Woah ho ho, whoops!” laughed the voice on the intercom, clearly that of a gentle older male, “Didn't mean to spook you youngsters! What can I do for you?”

“Hi! This wouldn't happen to be Hammers Buildsbetter would it?” asked Midnight curiously.

“Sure is!” answered the tube, “Well actually, this is the intercom pipe. I'm still inside the house.”

Techorse smiled at the terrible joke, “I like your intercom, it's really creative, sir!”

“Thank you! My son made it for me, glad it paid off,” said the pipe, curling a bit at the kind words, “Now of course, I'd like to know why you're here, it's not often guests show up.”

“My name is Techorse, I've come from Ponyville with my friend Midnight Blaze, and now that you're talking about it, I'm looking for your son!” answered Techorse, pointing a hoof at himself despite Hammers having no way of seeing him, “Is he home?”

There was silence for a few moments, and then the voice returned to the speaker, only this time far more morose, “Come on inside, colts. We need to have a word.”

The brass pipe straightened out, and then sank back underneath a tiny hatch in the ground, before the gates swung wide open for the two ponies, who entered carefully and walked up the stone path. They reached the double doors into the home, and a tall older earth pony gentleman wearing a fancy suit and bow tie opened them up.

“Good afternoon,” he said in a posh voice, “I am Brass Key, the Buildsbetter's butler. Follow me please, and don't touch the paintings.”

Techorse and Midnight entered the house after the butler, being careful not to touch the mentioned collection of paintings hanging on the inside walls of the home. There were beautiful tan and white tiles on the floor against white washed walls, arches and wooden stairs led them around the mansion until they reached the living area. There, sitting on one of the largest couches which Techorse had ever seen, a blue one that took up half the three hundred square foot room, sat Hammers Buildsbetter and his wife Rulers Buildsbetter, who got up off their seats immediately to greet the guests.

Hammers was an older earth pony with a tan coat and orange eyes like his son, a set of crossed mallets like his fountain as his cutie mark, and a rapidly graying mane and mustache. His wife naturally had white hair, was a unicorn with a purple-bluish coat like Midnight had described, and had a set of rulers angled at a corner for her cutie mark. She wore a gold necklace and small topaz earrings at the base of her ears, and a set of reading glasses she sometimes forgot to remove. There seemed to be very much worry in her turquoise eyes, and it was very possible that worry had caused the signs of age on them, as they did not appear to be that elderly.

“Well now, it really is Techorse!” beamed Hammers, stepping up and walking up to him, “It's such an honor to meet Ponyville's mad scientist.”

Techorse laughed, and extended a robotic arm from his saddle to shake Hammers' hoof, who was flattered to see the battle saddle in action.

“I totally forgot my nickname,” he said, shaking his head, “thank you so much for letting us in, sir.”

As the mechanical arm released Hammer's hoof and retreated back into the saddle, he said, “Oh no, thank you! We're so glad Techorse of Ponyville is here to help us get our son back!”

Techorse and Midnight's faces lit up in surprise, they hadn't expected the Buildsbetters to not know where their son was! Hammers' and Rulers' joy on their faces suddenly disappeared, just as Hammers had trailed off over the intercom.

“But we thought you knew, that's why we're here!” gasped Midnight, his mouth nearly falling open.

“Ohhhh my,” sighed Brass Key, “perhaps, master, you should explain to these gentlecolts what's been going on.”

“I guess we're going to have to,” agreed the older stallion, nodding.

---

The five were soon gathered at the lounge towards the back of the home, seated at a large oak table in front of a beautiful bay window that let the sun in at just the right angle to illuminate the room perfectly. Rulers had brought a batch of her famous “perfect brownies”, a dessert where every piece was guaranteed to be the same size no matter what, so that one's foals would not fight over who got the bigger brownie. Unlike her husband and son, Rulers liked to garden, cook, and make crafts, and had started a magazine about just those things to earn her fame in Equestria. Midnight picked up one of the brownies magically and shoved the treat into his mouth, the sweet taste of dark chocolate washing over his tongue.

“Why hasn't Spanners been here lately?” asked Techorse, the couple across from him holding hooves and frowning.

“Well, we made a bad choice as parents,” said Rulers, “we told Spanners he could stay here as long as he wanted to, unless he wanted to set out on his own and find his own fame and fortune.”

“So he chose to do that, and he really wasn't ready yet,” added the father, also looking like there was much weight on his heart, “he told us he was going to Ponyville to fix up the place and win his fame there. But we knew he wasn't ready for such a project, he was too immature.”

“We know he went to Ponyville, but then what happened?” asked Techorse.

Rulers lost it and burst into tears, “He never came back! We haven't seen our sweet, loving son in over a month and we fear the worst.”

“There, there honey,” soothed Hammers, trying to console his wife

Techorse didn't really want to break it to them, but went for it anyways, “With all due respect, Spanners arrived in Ponyville and started doing some rather mean things. Once Ponyville figured out he'd bitten off more than he could chew, he ran away.”

“What did he do?” asked Hammers.

“He said I wasn't a real Earth Pony,” answered Techorse honestly, “he tried to get Ponyville to keep me quiet so he could keep up this lie he was going to do anything.”

Shockingly, Hammers flew into a fury and yelled at Techorse, “OUR SON WOULD DO NO SUCH THING!”

“He would too!” countered Midnight, crumbs flying out of his mouth.

Hammers continued his angry questioning, “And what proof do you have of this? All we know is, Spanners went to Ponyville, then got upset and left. How do we know you two ever talked?”

Techorse looked Hammers straight in the eye, and from his saddle he took out the inscribed hammer with a robotic arm, dropping it on the table. The monogram caught the eyes of Hammers and Rulers, who sank back, dumbfounded.

“No...” whispered Hammers, “that's his hammer. His family treasure.”

“Where did you get this?” asked Rulers.

“Spanners dropped it while fleeing Ponyville, he used it to escape,” explained Midnight, “I identified the monogram as being carved by you, Rulers, no other unicorn mare in Equestria imprints gold like this.”

Hammers and Rulers sat motionless, the idea of their son having been a jerk to Techorse seemed impossible, and yet, there was that immature side to him that they knew about. Perhaps he had treated their guest poorly.

“I can't believe Spanners would say such a vile thing,” sobbed Rulers, “oh it's all our fault, we didn't raise him right.”

Techorse disagreed with the statement, “I say you did a good job raising him, he just decided it was easier to embarrass me in front of Ponyville than to tell the truth that...”

“The truth about what?” asked Hammers.

Techorse was going to say what he thought the answer was, but he needed to actually find Spanners and confirm with him that his hunch was correct. But now that he'd shown his hand, he had to say something to his parents.

“The truth was that he wasn't quite ready yet to fix up Ponyville,” answered Techorse, which was partially true, “I think it's a good idea if I find him and forgive him so that he might work on his craft a bit and come back some other time.”

Midnight learned how awful of a liar Techorse was and almost laughed, but he held his tongue so as to not give away the truth.

“If you do find him, please let us know!” pleaded Rulers, “Tell him he's still welcome here anytime he pleases!”

“One thing you could try is Lacey Maid's eatery a couple of miles from here, his friends tend to hang out there,” said Hammers, “they won't talk to me, but I'm sure they'd listen to you guys.”

“We'll go there first!” answered Techorse with a smile, “Come on, Midnight.”

“Right behind you!” said the unicorn, eager for some more food.

After Techorse picked the hammer back up and put it in his saddle, Brass Key took them back out of the residence to the front gates, and watched as his two guests started to head back for Canterlot.

“One more thing, gentlecolts,” he coughed, getting them to turn around.

“Yes?” asked Midnight.

Brass Key sighed, “You know as well as I do young master Spanners is quite boarish. But we still highly appreciate you helping us locate him. He has great potential, just look at this fountain he's built here behind me, and you'll know.”

“We understand,” answered Techorse, “and trust me Brass, I don't want any kind of revenge for what Spanners did to me. I just want to give him back his hammer, and let him know everything's ok between us.”

“Best of luck to you!” said Brass Key, a smile finally forming on his face as he shut the gate behind the stallions and started his walk back for the mansion.

“Techorse, the stallion with the arsenal saddle. Friend to the Elements of Harmony. Master Spanners really picked the wrong enemy this time,” chuckled the butler shaking his head before heading back to his post.

To be continued...

Comments

[Pen Dragon]

Very interesting....I'm pretty sure nothing can go wrong.

[Southern Wing]

very interesting...wonder what's gonna happen next?